Constructive meeting of representatives of Orienteering Federations in Europe

Constructive meeting of representatives of Orienteering Federations in Europe

The Assembly of the Orienteering Federations in Europe met in Sokos Hotel in Vuokatti, Finland on Tuesday 9^th July, after the World Orienteering Championships 2013 Long distance race. Representatives of 21 countries, out of which one was a provisional member, discussed several issues related to future of European events and development.

Firstly, the chairman of the European Working Group (EWG) Dusan Vystavel reported on actions taken by the EWG since the last Assembly in Lausanne, as for instance the difficult decision taken by the EWG on replacement of the EYOC 2013 organizer. He also thanked the organizers of the European Championships in Ski Orienteering and MTB Orienteering held in 2013 (Latvia and Poland), and welcomed the new IOF member Azerbaijan into the European orienteering family.

Then the Assembly voted on the EWG proposals and approved the following:

-Implementation of TempO into the programme of the European Trail Orienteering Championships from 2014 onwards
-Implementation of Relay into the programme of the European Youth Ski Orienteering Championship (EYSOC) from 2014 onwards
-Implementation of the European Youth MTB Orienteering Championships (EYMTBOC) from 2015 onwards
-Implementation of online decision-making into the Working Rules for the co-operation between the European federations in urgent cases. This decision is subject to approval by the IOF Council.

The Assembly took into account that Russia withdrew as the organizer of EYSOC 2014 and voted for Estonia to replace Russia.

The EYOC 2015 will take place in Romania, after Bulgaria withdrew its application.

European federations’ representatives also voted and appointed the following organizers of the European events: EYSOC 2015 – Norway, EMTBOC – Portugal, EOC and ETOC 2016 – Czech Republic; and they gave mandate to the EWG to decide on organizers of ESOC 2015 and the newly established EYMTBOC 2015 (which should be ideally held in conjunction with the EMTBOC in Portugal).

After short discussion on the future EOC programme, the meeting was closed.

The next Assembly of the OFE will be held in conjunction with the WOC 2014 in Italy.